Victim: Misbehaving cop struck before

A federal suit says ex-San Diego police Officer Anthony Arevalos abused women for years and the department failed to act.

Anthony Arevalos looks at the jury during the reading of his verdict in 2011. Arevalos who had been on the police force 18 years, was convicted of seeking sexual favors from women he stopped for DUI.
— Nelvin C. Cepeda

Anthony Arevalos looks at the jury during the reading of his verdict in 2011. Arevalos who had been on the police force 18 years, was convicted of seeking sexual favors from women he stopped for DUI.
— Nelvin C. Cepeda

San Diego  A federal lawsuit filed by a woman sexually assaulted by San Diego police Officer Anthony Arevalos contains new allegations and details that police supervisors knew about his misconduct toward female suspects by the late 1990s and repeatedly failed to take action against him.

The woman who brought the suit had complained to police that Arevalos had assaulted her inside a convenience store restroom, leading to the department’s investigation of the officer. Arevalos, 42, was convicted in 2011 on charges involving five women, including seeking sexual bribes from them.

The former 18-year veteran of the department is serving a nearly nine-year sentence in Corcoran state prison.

The lawyers for the woman in the federal suit filed a revised complaint this month that includes a deposition from a retired San Diego police officer who says Arevalos in 1998 took photographs of a naked and mentally unstable woman committing a lewd act in the back of his patrol vehicle. The retired officer said he told two sergeants about the incident.

The other incidents detailed in the complaint occurred in 2001, 2007 and 2010, and in each incident it’s alleged that department supervisors were told about Arevalos’ conduct.

A Police Department spokesman declined to comment on the lawsuit and referred all questions to the City Attorney’s Office. Jonathan Heller, a spokesman for City Attorney Jan Goldsmith, declined to comment on the allegations because of the ongoing litigation.

After Arevalos was convicted, Police Chief Bill Lansdowne said that suspicions fellow officers had about Arevalos’ misconduct never reached the “upper echelons” of his administration. He has been chief since August 2003.

“Clearly, there were some red flags that should have been reported but weren’t. We’re going to be addressing all of those issues,” Lansdowne said at the time.

The federal lawsuit brought by Arevalos’ victim alleges the department has an unwritten policy of covering up and downplaying reports of misconduct, and of categorizing what should be serious complaints as low-level “public service inquiries” that don’t trigger an internal investigation.

The suit calls for an outside monitor to oversee how the Police Department handles complaints of officer misconduct. Linda Workman, one of the lawyers representing the victim, declined to elaborate on the new court filings.

Here is what a review of hundreds of pages of depositions, statements and reports from the lawsuit shows:

• Retired Officer Francisco Torres said in a deposition he was Arevalos’ backup for an incident in 1998 or 1999 when a call came in of a naked, mentally unstable woman at a park in south San Diego. He and Arevalos took the woman to Paradise Valley Hospital in National City.

Torres said he went inside to get hospital staff to help with her. When he came out, he said, he witnessed Arevalos taking two Polaroid photos of the woman engaged in a sexual act with his baton.

Torres said he reported the incident that night to his supervisor, Sgt. Danny Hollister, who became visibly upset with Torres for telling him about it. He told Torres to report it that night to Arevalos’ supervisor, then-Sgt. Rudy Tai.